Veteran sports writer Jim Utter covers NASCAR for The Charlotte Observer and its racing site, ThatsRacin.com. In this space, Jim writes about all things NASCAR and other forms of racing which may also be relevant ... or not.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch give their take on pit road incident

During the second caution of Sunday's STP 500, Brad Keselowski got hit on pit road by Kurt Busch in an incident that also included Kasey Kahne. After repairs were made to his car, Keselowski returned to the track and rubbed on Busch's car several times. Both talked after the race about the incident:BRAD KESELOWSKIWHAT HAPPENED
WITH KURT OUT THERE?“The replay shows it.We
jumbled up on pit road and he just drove right through me and ruined our
day.We probably had a race-winning car and it doesn’t
matter.That’s the way it goes.”WHAT DO YOU THINK
ABOUT HIM WINNING? “That’s just racing.You can’t get caught up in
that stuff.It doesn’t make you happy, but it’s just
racing.”DID YOU TRY TO GO AFTER HIM?“I’m good with
that.”YOU HAD AN ISSUE AT KENTUCKY WITH HIM WASN’T IT?“Yeah, the same thing.He wrecked me for no reason 15-30
laps in, whatever, early in the race just being overaggressive.Aggressive is good, but lap 50 wrecking somebody, if you’re gonna be
aggressive wreck yourself don’t wreck me.I’ll remember that when
it’s lap 50 and he needs a break and he’ll find his ass turned around in the
wall just like he tore my car up.That stuff will come
around.Once or twice when it happens you go, ‘Oh, it happens,’
but when it happens repeatedly then you just realize who the person is that’s at
fault and you just have to make sure that you show them you’re not gonna take
that, and I’m not gonna take that.I know this 2 team is not gonna
take it.We had a race-winning car today, instead we finished
thirty-whatever with the whole front end tore off of it.That’s
inexcusable and I’m not gonna put up with that.”YOU HAD A LOT OF
RESPECT FOR HIM WHEN YOU WERE TEAMMATES.“I still do.He does awesome things for charity and he’s probably the most talented
race car driver, but he’s also one of the dumbest, so put those three
together.”HE SAID HE WANTED TO REARRANGE YOUR FACE.“Tell him come here.I’m right here.He knows
where I’m at.Leave victory lane and we’ll go.”KURT BUSCHAS FAR AS WHAT HAPPENED ON PIT ROAD WITH KESELOWSKI, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AND WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT HE WAS UPSET? "Yeah, I can't believe he overreacted and he's as upset as he
is.The 5 car was trying to pull into his box, Brad ran into the
back of him, I steered right to go around Brad and then he clobbers our
left‑side door, and it's like, okay, accidents happen on pit road.It's congested.It's not a place to race, because of all
the pit crew guys down there and I didn't think much of it, and then once we
were back out running, he targeted us, he was aiming for us.He
tried to flatten all four of my tires.That's a no‑fly
zone.That's a punk‑ass move and he will get what he gets back
when I decide to give it back."